Fire and Explosion Prevention/Minimization

A 2-fold strategy is used to limit the potential damage from fires and
explosions:

1. Prevent the initiation of the fire or explosion (fire prevention)

2. Minimize the damage after a fire or explosion has occurred (fire
protection)
 Designs to Prevent Fires and Explosions
• Inerting
• Flammability diagram/limits
• Static electricity control
• Ventilation
• Explosion-proof equipment and instruments,
• Sprinkler systems
 Inerting-Purging Operations
Purging is the replacing the atmosphere in a container by an inert substance to prevent
formation of explosive mixture

Vapor Space – Fire Triangle

• Limiting Oxygen
Concentration
• Inert gas addition
• Air infiltration
 Inerting
Inerting is the use of an inert (noncombustible) gas to control
the concentration of fuel/oxygen/inert gas mixtures such that it
is never in the combustible region or below the limiting
oxygen concentration.
Limits of
Compound Formula Flammability
Lower Upper
Methane CH4 5.3 15.0
Ethane C2H6 3.0 12.5
Propane C3H8 2.2 9.5
Butane C4H10 1.9 8.5
Benzene C6H6 1.4 7.1
Toluene C7H8 1.4 6.7
o-Xylene C8H10 1.0 6.0
Methylcyclohexane C7H14 1.2 ----
Methyl alcohol CH4O 7.3 36.0
Ethyl alcohol C2H6O 4.3 19.0
Hydrogen H2 4.0 75.0
Carbon monoxide +
CO 12.5 74.0
water vapor at 18oC
Ammonia NH3 15.0 28.0
 Inerting-Purging Operations
• Process of adding inert gas to combustible mixture to reduce
concentration of oxygen below limiting oxygen concentration (LOC)

• Inert gas- N2 and CO2 and steam(sometimes)

• Inerting begins with initial purge of vessel with inert gas to bring
oxygen concentration down to safe concentrations

• For many gases the LOC is approximately 10% and for many dusts
approximately 8 %. Commonly used control point=4% below LOC
(Example: 6% oxygen if LOC is10%)
 Inerting-Purging Operations
There are several purging methods used to initially
reduce the oxygen concentration to the low set point:
• Vacuum Purge - evacuate and replace with inert.
• Pressure Purge - pressurize with inert, then relieve
pressure.
• Sweep Purge - continuous flow of inert.
• Siphon Purge - fill with liquid, then drain and
replace liquid with inert.
• Combined purge : pressure and vacuum purge,
others.
 Vacuum Purging
If the vessel to be inerted is designed to withstand vacuum pressure, an
inert atmosphere can be created by repeatedly drawing a vacuum on the
vessel and filling with inert gas.
Large storage vessels are usually not designed for vacuums and usually
can withstand a pressure of only a few inches of water.
Reactors, however, are often designed for full vacuum, that is -760 mm
Hg gauge or 0.0 mm Hg absolute.
Vacuum Purging
Vacuum Purging
Vacuum Purging
Vacuum Purging
Vacuum Purging
Vacuum Purging
Stage 2
Vacuum Purging
Vacuum Purging
 Vacuum Purging
Number of cycles required to achieve the desired oxygen concentration

A vessel of known size is vacuum-purged

from an initial oxygen concentration yo to
a final target oxygen concentration yj.

The vessel is initially at pressure PH and is

vacuum purged using a vacuum at
pressure PL.
 Vacuum Purging
Number of cycles required to achieve the desired oxygen concentration

Assuming ideal gas behavior, the total

moles at each pressure are:

The number of moles of oxygen for the

low pressure PL and high pressure PH are:
 Vacuum Purging
Number of cycles required to achieve the desired oxygen concentration

When the vacuum is relieved with pure

nitrogen, the moles of oxygen are the same
as in the vacuum state and the moles of
nitrogen increase. The new (lower) oxygen
concentration is

Substituting (noxy)1L in this eq.

 Vacuum Purging
Number of cycles required to achieve the desired oxygen concentration

If the vacuum and inert relief process is

repeated, the concentration after the
second purge is

This process is repeated as often as required

to decrease the oxidant concentration to a
desired level. The concentration after j purge
cycles, vacuum and relief, is given by the
following general equation

This equation assumes that the pressure limits PH and PL are identical for each cycle.
 Vacuum Purging
Number of cycles required to achieve the desired oxygen concentration

The total moles of nitrogen added for each

cycle is constant. For j cycles the total
nitrogen is given by
 Vacuum Purging
Class Exercise:
Use a vacuum purging technique to reduce the oxygen concentration
within a 1000-gal vessel to 1 ppm. Determine the number of purges
required and the total nitrogen used. The temperature is 75°F, and the
vessel is originally charged with air under ambient conditions. A vacuum
pump is used that reaches 20 mm Hg absolute, and the vacuum is
subsequently relieved with pure nitrogen until the pressure returns to 1
atm absolute.
Pressure Purging
Pressure Purging
Vacuum or Pressure ?
What you suggest?
 Pressure Purging
Class Exercise
In a 1000-gal vessel determine the number of purges required to reduce
the oxygen concentration to 1 ppm using pure nitrogen at a pressure of
80 psig and at a temperature of 75°F. Also, determine the total nitrogen
required. Compare the quantities of nitrogen required for vacuum and
pressure purging processes.
Combined Vacuum and Pressure Purging

Vacuum-pressure purging Vacuum-pressure purging

with initial pressurized with initial evacuated
 Combined Vacuum and Pressure Purging
Vacuum-pressure purging with initial evacuated Vacuum-pressure purging with initial pressurized
The purging cycles for a pressure-first purge, the
beginning of the cycle is defined as the end of the
initial pressurization. If the initial oxygen mole
fraction is 0.21, the oxygen mole fraction at the end
of this initial pressurization is given by:
the remaining cycles are identical to pressure purging
and following equation applies.
However, the number of cycles j is the number of
cycles after the initial pressurization
The purging cycles for an evacuate-first purge, the
beginning of the cycle is defined as the end of the
initial evacuation. The oxygen mole fraction at this
point is the same as the initial mole fraction.
Furthermore, the remaining cycles are identical
to the vacuum purge operation and following
equation is directly applicable.
However, the number of cycles j is the number of
cycles after the initial evacuation.
 Sweep-Through Purging
The sweep-through purging process adds purge gas into a vessel at one opening and withdraws
the mixed gas from the vessel to the atmosphere (or scrubber) from another opening. This
purging process is commonly used when the vessel or equipment is not rated for pressure or
vacuum; the purge gas is added and withdrawn at atmospheric pressure
 Sweep-Through Purging
Purging results are defined by assuming perfect
mixing within the vessel, constant temperature, and
constant pressure.
Under these conditions the mass or volumetric flow
rate for the exit stream is equal to the inlet stream.
The material balance around the vessel is

where
V is the vessel volume
C is the concentration of oxidant within the vessel (mass or volumetric units)
C0 is the inlet oxidant concentration (mass or volumetric units)
Qv is the volumetric flow rate
t is time
 Sweep-Through Purging

The mass or volumetric flow rate of oxidant

into the vessel is C0Qv and the flow rate of
oxidant exiting is CQv .
The equation rearranged and integrated

The volumetric quantity of inert gas required to reduce the oxidant concentration from C1 to C2 is
Qvt and it is determined using following equation:

For many systems C0 = 0

 Sweep-Through Purging
Class Exercise

A storage vessel contains 100% air by volume

and must be inerted with nitrogen until the
oxygen concentration is below 1.25% by
volume. The vessel volume is 1000 ft3.
How much nitrogen must be added, assuming
the nitrogen contains 0.01% oxygen?
Siphon Purging